The following contains spoilers for Despicable Me 4, now playing in theaters
Summary
Despicable Me 4has a strong central character-driven storyline that would have been a lot better if the movie had fully focused on it.Despicable Me 4is the sixth overall entry in the 13-year old franchise. Building off the events of the prior films,Despicable Me 4sees Gru and his family forced to contend with a new threat in the form ofWill Ferrell’s villainous Maxime Le Mal. Upending their lives in the process, the movie quickly divides the characters into several different digressions.
Which is a shame, becauseGru’s plotline with another new character is actually the ideal route to take the series. It reflects the themes of the entire franchise, while also serving as a direct contrast to one of Gru’s previous important relationships. The next prospective entries in the series should learn from the mistakes ofDespicable Me 4’s story and refine the character arcs to better reflect the stronger central arc of the film.
Despicable Me 4’s Biggest Continuity Problem Is Part Of Why Illumination Is Dominating Over Disney
People had begun to notice a continuity issue with the Despicable Me movies, but the fact that Illumination doesn’t care is why its been successful.
Despicable Me 4’s Multiple Plotlines Hurt The Movie
Despicable Me 4Suffers From Too Many Storylines
Despicable Me 4suffers from too many plotlines, which ends up distracting from the potentially far more compelling Gru and Poppy storyline. After Gru earns the ire of theDespicable Mefranchise’s latest villain Maxime, the family is forced to go into hiding to avoid his vengeance. At this point, the movie diverges in several different directions, with much of the cast getting their own minor arcs as they try to adjust to their new lives. The problem is that this divided attention keeps any of the storylines from having real emotional weight or even closure.
Kristen Wiig’s Lucy Wilde gets two comedic sequences, one of which becomes a direct parody ofTerminator 2: Judgment Day. Margo, Edith, and Agnes get potentially compelling stories that don’t get any resolution. The Minions get several comedic cutaways, especially the newly empowered Mega-Minions. However, this only ends up playing a very minor role in the actual climax of the film, and would likely work better as a stand-alone animated short.All of this ends up distracting away from the main plot surrounding Gru, which is actually a clever direction for the character.
Despicable Me 4’s Gru & Poppy Storyline Should Have Been The Primary Plot
Gru & Poppy’s Arc Is The Best Part OfDespicable Me 4
Played by Joey King, Poppy is the preteen neighbor that Gru and his family move next to while going into AVL witness protection. An aspiring supervillain herself, Poppy uses her knowledge of Gru’s true identity to blackmail him into helping her earn admission to Lycee Pas Bon, the villain academy that Gru went to in his youth.Poppy is a fun character, an over-confident pink foil to Gruthat complicates Gru’s attempts to keep a low profile and watch over Gru Jr. Notably, she ends up developing a rapport with Gru and becomes an important ally later in the film.
With more focus, Poppy and Gru’s dynamic could have carried the entire film.It’s an interesting reflection of Gru’s storyline inMinions: The Rise of Gru, transitioning him into the same kind of mentor role he once looked up to. It reinforces theDespicable Mefranchise’s core themes of finding connections that elevate you beyond petty ambitions and serves as a solid contrast to Gru’s more loving relationship with his adopted daughters. The fact that she even grows to care for Gru Jr. could keep that element of the plot front and center.
Despicable Me Detail Suggests A Very Different Minions Origin Than $1.1 Billion Movie Revealed
In light of Despicable Me 4, it’s easy to forget that the original film in the franchise suggested a very different origin story for the Minions.
Despicable Me’s Future Needs To Learn From The Fourth Film’s Mistakes
IfDespicable Me 4had been more streamlined,it could have used the Gru/Poppy storyline to connect more of the disparate plots in the film. Poppy and Margot get a potential set-up that never fully pays off, and her leading Gru back into a world of villainy could have introduced compelling elements to his relationship with Lucy or his rivalry with Maxime. Future entries in the series need to learn from the disjointed nature ofDespicable Me 4and return to the stronger focus that the earlierDespicable Mefilms were able to utilize.
The firstDespicable Meis a surprisingly solid character-driven story, which emotionally grounds the otherwise cartoonish elements. By rediscovering that focus, the series could return to the earlier heights of the series. The Gru and Poppy storyline could have easily matched that, and is still the best aspect of the film. However, it could have felt more emotionally resonant with a greater focus and more screentime, and should have been the primary focus of a film that too often gets distracted with goofball side-plots.Despicable Me 4has a great central story, but doesn’t give it enough focus.
Despicable Me 4
Cast
The infamous (and kind-hearted) not-super villain Gru returns in Despicable Me 4, the fourth entry in the long-running movie series from Illumination Entertainment. The fourth film also sees the return of Gru’s wife, Lucy, portrayed again by Kristin Wiig, and introduces their son.
